>> we are going to go drink and talk about a basketweaving firm. >> donny is buying for us tonight. >> we're going to start a basket weaving company because jason thinks it's a good idea. a college coach crossing the line. the abuse of his boys. the sad song of dr. conrad murray singing the blues in a cnn interview, saying he's a scapegoat in the king of pop's death. a stolen cab with the cops in hot pursuit with speeds totaling over 100 miles an hour. and watching the bid for

history slip right through his legs. >> oh, so close. good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. >> and i'm john berman. zoraida is off today. we're going to start with this video that has the university facing tough, tough questions this morning. it shows rutgers head basketball coach mike rice physically and mentally abusing players at practice. you can see rice grabbing, shoving, even kicking players. he hurls basketballs at their heads, and you can hear him shouting obscenities, including gay slurs. athletes and fans across the country have just been dumbfounded by these images. rutgers officials first saw the video last december. what did they do about it? did they fire the coach? no. the athletic director suspended the coach for three games -- three games. a punish that has fueled some outrage this morning. cnn's pamela brown is following

these really shocking developments. >> shocking is right. the university became aware of this video back in december, but it was released to the public yesterday causing shock and outrage over rice's homophobic rants and physical abuse toward his players. now the university is under mounting pressure to fire rice. >> hurling basketballs at players' legs, even their heads. [ bleep ] >> reporter: grabbing, pushing, kicking, and punching them. and screaming homophobic slurs. [ bleep ] >> reporter: this video obtained by cnn's "outside the lines" shows rutgers head basketball coach mike rice going off the handle and abusing his players during practices from 2010 through 2012 according to the sports network. the footage surfaced after eric murdoch, who was rice's director of player development until he was fired, showed it to rutgers

athletic department officials. in an interview with espn, murdoch says the alleged abuse caused several players to leave. >> to see your coach physically putting his hands on players, physically kicking players, firing balls at players from point blank range, the verbal abuse, the belittling -- i was in total shock this guy wasn't fired immediately on the spot. >> reporter: on espn on tuesday, the school's athletic director was asked why he didn't fire rice. >> the moment we became aware of the video in november when it was presented by eric and his lawyers, we immediately commenced an independent investigation into the matter. we talked to everyone in the program. we evaluated the situation, and we suspended mike in a more significant way than coaches have been suspended in recent memory.

>> reporter: seeing basketball coaches lose their cool is nothing new. remember legendary coach bobby knight, he was known for his hot temper and throwing chairs. but it was this video showing him with his hands around a player's neck that led to his dismissal at indiana. >> maybe i grabbed reed by the shoulder. maybe i took him by the back of the neck, i don't know. i don't remember everything that i've ever done in practice. >> reporter: now the question looms. will rice face the same fate as knight? >> and we attempted to get comments from rice or the university, and we were unsuccessful. but certainly a developing story here. >> lebron james and other nba stars have been following this. they've been tweeting overnight saying they're shocked by this too. it's not like athletes are saying, it's okay. this happens all the time. new developments this morning in the murder of two district attorneys in kaufman, texas. police have a person of interest, a former justice of the peace who was fired for

corruption and prosecuted by the two dead men. eric williams says police met with him at a local restaurant and swabbed his hands for signs of gun residue, but williams he doesn't even own a gun. police are not officially calling him a suspect. meantime, new developments in another deadly shooting involving a prosecutor in colorado. police in the small town of hot sulfur springs, colorado, say an intruder was shot dead monday night inside the home of a deputy district attorney and her sheriff's deputy husband. jim fespellman is live. >> reporter: it was just before monday evening when a 911 call was placed reporting a stranger at this woman and her husband's door, causing a disturbance. that woman is a deputy district attorney in hot sulfur springs. her husband a sheriff's deputy in grand county, colorado. there was an altercation, and

this man was shot at that door. wasn't clear whether it was the woman or her husband, but he was shot dead in the torso. early reports are that he was not armed. we do know a lot of people in prosecutor's offices and police around the state here after the murder of prison chief tom clements were definitely on high alert. at this point, no indication why this man was at their door or what led to this altercation. >> obviously, jim, there's been a lot going on in terms of law enforcement officials lately with officers killed in colorado and texas. do authorities right now think there's any link in this case? >> reporter: there doesn't appear to be a link at this time, they say, but they're working on this guy's background. he apparently was only in hot sulfur springs for about a week, moved there from michigan looking for work. we did find a 2007 arrest, basically fleeing police in a car chase. early indications are he wasn't armed when he showed up at their

door. a lot for police investigators up there to work on. since it involves a prosecutor and a deputy sheriff, they brought in police and prosecutors from elsewhere in the state to conduct this investigation. we'll see what they find out. >> our appreciation. tensions building between north and south korea this morning. north korea making good on its threat to block south korean workers from entering or leaving a joint industrial complex. the news comes a day after pyongyang announced it would restart a shuttered nuclear power plant. the north's increasingly hostile behavior, promising harsh criticism, even threats from the west. >> i reiterate again, the united states will do what is necessary to defend ourselves and defend our allies, korea and japan. >> if we have solid evidence that north korea is going to take action, then i think we have the moral obligation and absolute right to defend ourselves by taking -- i wouldn't even consider that preemptive. to me, that's stockipping an atk that's about to happen.

>> today the u.s. sent a warship near the korean peninsula to monitor north korean activity. today litigation continues in the civil trial over michael jackson's death. the man convicted in the criminal proceeding, jackson's former doctor conrad murray, is speaking, and i guess you could say singing, currently to cnn. murray is serving four years for involuntary manslaughter. in a television interview with anderson cooper from jail, murray said he did his best to get michael jackson off propofol, the powerful sedative that led to his death. >> yes, indeed, i did order propofol to his home, but i wasn't the one who brought propofol into his home. i met him with his own stash. i did not agree with michael, but michael thought it was not an issue because he had been doing it for years, and he knew exactly how things worked. given the situation at the time, it was my approach to try to get him off of it, but michael jackson was not the kind of

person you could just say put it down, and he's going to do that. >> as a doctor, though -- >> my approach may not have been an orthodox approach, but my intentions were good. >> murray says he regrets not testifying at his own trial. he's now appealing the conviction. in kind of a strange moment during this live interview, murray serenaded our anderson cooper with a song that he says tells his story. ♪ he's a little boy that santa claus forgot ♪ ♪ and goodness knows he did not want a lot ♪ ♪ he wrote a note to santa for some crayons and a toy ♪ ♪ it broke his little heart when he found santa hadn't come ♪ >> so that song, in case you're wondering, is nat king cole's "the little boy that santa claus forgot." a man in a stolen taxi taking police in south florida on a wild rush hour ride through two counties. this high speed chase started in

miami, where the driver lost control on the florida turnpike but kept on going. after hitting well over 100 miles an hour and a brief chase on foot, police finally caught the suspect. they found marijuana and other drugs on him. this morning 33-year-old lazaro ca castellano is facing grand larceny charges. louisville's kevin ware is back on campus after being released from the hospital. the 20-year-old sophomore suffered that horrifying compound fracture at sunday's ncaa game. ware is expected to be on crutches for a year as louisville continues to the final four. ware wants to go with him, but he needs clearance from team doctors first. an oh, so close moment. texas rangers hugh darvish retired the first 26 batters he

faced. he appeared completely invincible until up came little known marwin gonzalez, a career .244 hitter. watch. >> gonzalez with a base hit! >> right up the middle. a clean single right through the legs. it breaks up the 24th perfect game in history. so darvish was pulled. they brought in a relief pitcher, and the rangers win. >> and he still gets to keep his $107 million. >> he still gets the money, but that was brutal. a woman who talked about enjoying her private life a few months ago, hillary clinton is spending a lot of time in the public eye. a sign perhaps? we're trying to read between the lines next.

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continue, or increase -- you pick. hillary clinton making one of her first public appearances since leaving the state department. she shares the stage with vice president jill biden at an awards ceremony in washington. just the sight of the first lady is refueling speculation about her run for the white house in 2016. >> reporter: here she comes again. just two months have gone by since hillary clinton left the state department, saying she wanted to finally enjoy life as a private citizen, but it didn't take long to get her out of the sweats and back into the spotlight. >> we see too many countries where women still face violence and abuse. >> reporter: clinton made her first official appearance tuesday night, speaking at the vital voices global awards ceremony, an event that honors women. on friday she'll headline a women's event in new york, and later this month a housing event in dallas, her first paid speech for an undisclosed sum. in june she heads to the economic club of grand rapids in michigan. >> i remember when she was a

senator, she would get upwards of 100,000 requests a year for everything from speeches to appearances to press conferences to interview requests. but her roll out as a private citizen has all the makings of an agenda, despite promising this just weeks ago. >> i am out of politics right now. i don't know everything i'll be doing. >> reporter: but it seems like no one really believes her. is it really a coincidence that around the same time she's making her first big outing, the ready for hillary political action group launched this, urging her to run. on staff is a group of fund-raise fund-raisers, some who worked for her first presidential bid and others tied to her big donors. it looks like what was a definite, i'm not going to do this again, has changed, and she's 50-50, so we hear from some people around her. >> i think people aren't just getting ahead of themselves, they're getting ahead of her.

really, 60 days is the blink of an eye. we're talking about an election that's 1,300 days away. >> reporter: but the clinton watch has left her potential opponents in limbo, worrying she would hog the limelight, the money, the enthusiasm. one of those potential candidates, vice president joe biden, also came to the event on tuesday, perhaps to size up her intentions with the rest of the political world. >> i love the speculation. it's really fascinating to see hillary clinton and joe biden on stage together. hmm. >> we've got 2 1/2 years of talking like this? >> it's exciting. thank goodness. let's bring you up to date. a stunning video shows rutgers university basketball coach mike rice shoving, grabbing, and throwing balls at players, including their head, during practice. he also uses gay slurs. rice was fined and suspended back in december for what the school calls inappropriate behavior. now the school is reviewing its

decision not to fire him. a plot to rig the upcoming new york mayoral race. state senator malcolm smith out on bond, accused of trying to persuade republican leaders to put smith on the republican ballot in november even though he's a registered democrat. five other political figures from both sides of the aisle also charged. >> brazen charges even in new york. pope francis paying his respects to the late pope john paul ii. the pontiff made a visit last night to pope john paul ii's tomb to mark the eighth anniversary of john paul's death. the pope spent time kneeling in silent prayer at the tomb, located in st. sebastian. he also prayed at the tomb of pope pius xxiii. an instructor and a student

pilot were conducting a training exercise when they were forced to make an emergency landing on the median in south broward. both men walked away unhurt. the faa is investigating. it's the second small plane to make an emergency landing on u.s. 27 in a month. the sequel to the blockbuster "nifinding nemo" is finally a go. ellen degeneres will relive her roll as dori in the sequel "finding dori." jimmy fallon close to replacing jay leno on the "tonight show." sources close to the deal say it's a go, and that fallon and nbc have reached a deal. it's not clear when the transition would happen, but leno's contract is up in september of next year. the hollywood reporter's kim masters broke the story. she says she doesn't think they'll wait that long. >> i think they want to start him a little before then. if you're jay leno at this

point, how long do you want the farewell to last? if you saw the video last night, it seemed to me at the very end jay leno was kind of hinting that he's accepting this. >> at the head of the line to replace fallon on late night, "saturday night live weekend update" anchor seth myers. >> jay leno is number one, right? >> yes. >> millions watch him every night. >> yes. >> he works six days a week? >> yes. >> he has tons of fans? >> yes. >> and nbc wants to make room for the next generation? >> not for the first time, for the second time. >> that's what i know about the late night. >> i'm told television can be a strange business. if you skipped out on the iphone 5 saying i'll wait for the next model, coming up, the scoop on the next one, including the answer to the all important when. [ female announcer ] neutrogena® pore refining cleanser. alpha-hydroxy and exfoliating beads

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commission is entering the 21st century. it now says it's okay for companies to release important news on facebook or twitter instead of a public filings of press releases. this came into question after the ceo of netflix tweeted the news last year that online viewing hit 1 billion hours, sending netflix shares soaring. usually, that's something that comes from a stuffy press release or a government filing. now the s.e.c. is saying, okay, it's okay to have a company release good news via social media. the newest iphone could be on its way. apple will start producing a refreshed iphone sometime this quarter, and that could mean a summer release. also, a smaller, less expensive iphone could be launched this year after apple recently said its profits were squeezed by the popularity of its cheaper, older model iphones. apparently, apple is experimenting with a different color or different kind of case that would differentiate it from the full price version. a new airline policy causing a stir.

samoa airlines has started charging passengers baseded on their weight, john, and the weight of their luggage. >> why me? >> you travel with so much baggage. it says, to keep things fair, it will quote, "you are the master of your airfare. you decide how much or how little your ticket will cost." samoa air has been using the policy since last fall. families like it because kids weigh less. you estimate the weight of you and your height, your weight, and the weight of your bags. before you check in, you're kind of checked against it to make sure you were fair and honest. that's what you're charged by. >> maybe that's something we all need to consider next time we travel to samoa. >> who knew you had to go on a juice diet before you took an airline flight. emotions running high in the jodi arias murder trial. clumps. [ gasps ] meet new covergirl clump crusher. big volume mascara with a brush designed to crush. 200% more volume. zero clumps. new clump crusher.

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so could it be the break that cops are looking for? a person of interest identified in the murder of two texas prosecutors. out of bounds and maybe out of a job. a college hoops coach called out nasty behavior on the court -- all caught on camera. call him the comeback kid. south carolina's former governor mark sanford takes a big step towards putting his scandalous past behind him. welcome back to "early start," everyone. i'm john berman. >> christine romans. we're 30 minutes past the hour. a new development this morning in the case of two murdered prosecutors in kaufman, texas. investigators are now focusing on a person of interest, they

say, a former justice of the peace named eric williams who was fired in a corruption probe and prosecuted by the two men who are now dead. cnn's george howell live from kaufman, texas, this morning. george, tell us about this person of interest. >> reporter: christine, good morning. cnn spoke with his attorney david sturgi, and we learned that investigators met at a local denny's here to take swab samples from williams' hand to test for gun residue. at this point, cnn does not know what the results of those samples revealed to investigators, but david surgi tells us his client did cooperate voluntarily because he has nothing to hide. it's important to put this in perspective. williams may be one of several people of interest that investigators are looking into that these men hasse and mclelland may have prosecuted over the years. and there's the possibility that the aryan brotherhood of texas

being related. was this an inside job? we don't know because no suspect is in custody. fair to say, these investigators have a lot of angles they can look into. >> george, what sort of differences are you seeing as the investigation moves forward? >> reporter: just yesterday this was very, very apparent, but you see these public officials being flanked by law enforcement as they enter the courthouse, as they exit. we spoke with one district attorney in nearby anderson county who told us about the mood, what it's like to do his job in this environment. i want you to take a listen to this. >> i feel like mike was murdered for what he did, and so it makes it kind of -- it's a little scary to people like me, but it's not going to change the way i do business. i'm not going to walk in fear. i'm not going to not prosecute the people i prosecute. but you've got to be careful. >> reporter: christine, the person that is filling mike mclelland's position now, randy

fernandez, she will be filling that position for 21 days until governor rick perry here appoints a new district attorney for this county. we understand that fernandez is being flanked also by security, 24-hour a day security. >> george howell in texas this morning. thanks, george. we're following developments this morning in the story that's shocked and surprised so many people that has to do with rutgers university and the video surfacing about basketball coach mike rice. this video shows rice screaming at players, grabbing them. he kicks them, throws balls at them, including their heads. throwing them from point blank range during practice, and if that's not enough, he uses gay slurs to reprimand them. rutgers officials have known about this video since last fall. people are asking why does the coach still have his job? this is how the school's athletic director explains it. >> the moment that we became aware of the video in november, when it was presented to us by eric and his lawyers, we immediately commenced an

independent investigation into the matter. we talked to everybody in the program. we evaluated the situation, and we suspended mike in a more significant way than coaches have been suspended in recent memory. >> so that punishment, just three games had some people pretty angry right now. now the pressure is growing on rutgers to fire the coach. >> you hear tales of tough coaches who use real hard language, but that -- that's not leadership. it's like bully territory. >> i've been to a lot of practices and seen a lot of sports action up close. i've never seen anything quite like that. players like lebron james, ray allen, people around the league -- they're all shocked by this also. it's not something that everyone sees all the time. >> and players said they have moved schools. they have left the program because of this. >> there are transfers saying that was part of the reason they left. >> we'll continue to follow that tomorrow morning only on cnn. wolf blitzer being told the expansion for gun checks is on the table. hutchinson is a former congressman who's heading up the

nra's national school shield task force. while his new position on background checks appears to be a huge shift, but it comes with a giant, giant caveat. >> i'm open to expanding background checks. you can do it in a way that does not infringe upon an individual and make it hard for an individual to transfer to a friend or a neighbor, somebody that, if you're in montana and have a casual sale, we don't want to infringe upon those rights either. >> hutchinson's loophole for so-called casual gun sales amounts to a rejection of senator chuck schumer's bill that would require universal background checks for all gun sales. a grisly scene on a busy brazilian highway, a passenger bus plunging 30 feet from a via duct in rio de janeiro onto its roof. at least seven people killed, six others injured. rush hour traffic at a standstill as victims were removed from the bus. a brazilian tv station told the driver had a dispute with the passenger right before the

crash. day 40, 40 days of the jodi arias murder trial. the judge denying a defense request for a mistrial, but a juror was thrown off the case and left the courthouse sobbing. arias' defense had argued juror number five, a female in her 30s, jeopardized this case by gossiping and exhibiting bias in front of other jurors. that juror is now gone. former south carolina governor mark sanford continues his somewhat improbable political comeback. sanford beat charleston city councilman curtis bostick in a congressional runoff. he'll face elizabeth colbert bush. she's the sister to comedian stephen colbert. here's what sanford told supporters last night. >> i'm incredibly humble, incredibly gratified, incredibly thankful for this night, for what it means at many different levels, and i just want to thank

every one of you for your part in making it possible. >> sanford's career and personal life sort of left in shambles after he disappeared from office and lied about an extramarital affair back in 2009. the president and first lady getting ready to welcome one of their favorite singers to the white house, part of a star-studded concert next week that will pay tribute to memphis soul music. ♪ as long as i got my suit and tie ♪ ♪ i'm going to leave it out on the floor tonight ♪ >> justin timberlake will be there along with scindyndi laup. they'll be joined by the legendary al green, seen her performing for a capitol records concert, which means president obama could face a little pressure to get on stage. he might just be al green's number one fan. ♪ i, so in love with you ♪

>> the concert will be recorded and broadcast later this month on pbs. >> i do prefer the al green version. >> neither of them should quit their day job. 37 minutes after the hour. his gruesome injury stunned sports fans around the country. coming up, louisville's kevin ware takes a big step towards recovery. good for him. deep sweep power brush, you'll never want to go back. its dynamic power bristles reach between teeth to remove up to 76% more plaque than sonic in hard to reach areas. oral-b deep sweep 5000 power brush. in hard to reach areas. the in their portfolio, isent of invesunexpected risk.to find bny mellon has the vision and experience to help. we look at the full picture... to uncover risk, find opportunities, and create a plan that's best suited for you. bny mellon.

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after suffering that awful leg injury on national television, louisville's kevin ware is back on campus in kentucky this morning. the sophomore guard left the hospital and returned to louisville yesterday after suffering a compound fracture of his right leg during sunday's elite eight game. ware is expected to be off the court for about a year while his cardinals continue on to the final four in atlanta this weekend. >> cnn's joe carter is live in louisville. joe, the cardinals head to atlanta today. when do we know if ware will join them? >> reporter: hi. good morning, guys. we might find out more

information today when the team says they're planning on holding a joint press conference. both coach pitino and ware are going to sit down with the media around 1:30 eastern time. the real question is whether or not doctors medically clear him to get on an airplane later on tonight to fly to atlanta. the doctors fear there may be infection in the wound. they're going to give him one last check and then medically clear him to get on the plane tonight. it was so great to see him arriving at this facility on crutches. he was in really good spirits, believe it or not. his mom by his side carrying that championship trophy they won saturday night against duke. he spent three hours with the team. we saw him get into the van with his mother and his girlfriend. his mom gave us a double thumbs up. him and his girlfriend both waved at us, gave us a big smile. there was a handful of fans here to wish him well, wish him off. and one of the fans said she was really, really encouraged how positive he seemed in this whole situation, and she said she

believes this team is going to use this as motivation to cut down the nets in atlanta on saturday and monday. >> i think this right here is making them push even harder to bring the championship home. we're a great team regardless, anyway i'm proud of them, but this is the year, and this happening, i think, has pushed them more to bring it home. >> now on a side note, guys, there was a lot of concern that obviously mounting medical bills with the amount of time he spent in indianapolis at the hospital and obviously the amount of rehabilitation that he's going to need over the next year. the university president here at louisville says that the school will cover all of his medical expenses, both at the hospital as well as at the rehabilitation care he's going to need for about the next 12 months, guys. >> joe carter. thanks, joe. live for us in louisville. kevin ware and his mother are going to sit down with cnn's rachel nichols this afternoon in louisville. watch for that here on cnn later today. kevin ware may have helped inspire the louisville women's basketball team. the lady cardinals upset usc to

advance to the final four. that victory coming a few nights after the team took down britteny griner and the defending champs baylor. the other women's final four matchup, connecticut versus notre dame. caught after years on the run, the elusive fugitive known as the mountain man is in custody this morning. there he is. boris earns unlimited rewards for his small business. can i get the smith contract, please? thank you. that's three new paper shredders. [ boris ] put 'em on my spark card. [ garth ] boris' small business earns 2% cash back on every purchase every day. great businesses deserve unlimited rewards. read back the chicken's testimony, please. "buk, buk, bukka!" [ male announcer ] get the spark business card from capital one and earn unlimited rewards. choose 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase every day. told you i'd get half. what's in your wallet? told you i'd get half. we replaced people with a machine.r,

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good morning. welcome back. it's a battle over school safety. former arkansas congressman asa hutchinson unveiling an nra report that suggests we should fight guns with more guns. it calls for more armed police officers, security guards, and staffers at every u.s. school. the nra also wants to loosen restrictions so teachers can carry weapons. but president obama is on the

road pushing a very, very different approach. jim acosta has the latest. >> reporter: john and christine, later today in colorado, president obama will meet with victims and families of victims from the shootings at columbine and aurora. votes in congress on new gun control measures expected later this month, it's now coming down to a battle between president obama and the nra. in a hard push for new gun control laws, president obama is heading to two states still reeling from mass shootings. up first, denver, colorado, near the scene of the movie theater massacre at aurora, and where the president, one white house official says, wants to put the issue back on the front burner. on monday he goes to hartford, connecticut, about an hour from newtown. >> he believes that that passion, that urgency still exists around the country. >> reporter: the nra has other plans. among the main recommendations from its school shooting task force, at least one armed guard or employee, like a teacher, per

school, and an nra training program inform train personnel to use firearms. >> the presence of an armed security personnel in a school adds a layer of security and diminishes response time. >> reporter: the task force released its findings surrounded by more than a dozen security guards and with the backing of one father of a child killed at newtown. >> this is recommendations for solutions, real solutions that will make our kids safer. >> reporter: but there were holes in the nra's report, such as no cost estimates for the armed personnel. task force leader and former republican congressman asa hutchinson insisted, while his group's findings were influenced by the nra, it did look at measures pending before congress. not even universal background checks, something supported by 90% of americans, according to a recent cbs news poll. >> why did you not consider that piece? >> because our focus is on school safety and making our schools a safer environment.

>> reporter: later on in a twist, hutchinson, who's also running for governor of arkansas, told cnn's wolf blitzer he personally supports expanding background checks. >> i'm open to expanding background checks. you can do it in a way that does not infringe upon an individual. >> reporter: but an nra spokesman immediately told cnn hutchinson was not speaking for the nra. the gun lobby says hutchinson was simply calling for more data going into the existing system, so it includes records of the mentally ill. john and christine? >> 50 minutes after the hour right now. the mountain man is behind bars. fugitive troy james knapp on the run for seven years finally tracked down in a remote area of utah. authorities say knapp fired shots at a helicopter that was tracking him and finally gave himself up after being surrounded. knapp is a survivalist who's suspected of breaking into dozens of cabin in southern and central utah over the last seven years. he now faces 18 criminal charges. l.a. trying something new to fight gridlock.

synchronized traffic lights. the city has synced up 4,500 traffic signals across 470 square miles. there are 7 million people on the roads at peak rush hour times. still to see if this is going to work. our weather forecast. spring was warm and now not anymore. jennifer delgado, explain what's going on here. >> for today we are talking about spring showers out there. look at the radar here. it is lighting up across parts of the south, from texas through louisiana, getting pounded this morning. it was a rough overnight, where we saw reports of softball-sized hail. what we're going to be looking at is rain across the deep south. we're talking potentially some of these storms could become stronger later in the day, but much of the lightning offshore, and we're also looking at the chance for just a little bit of snow to set up right near the texas panhandle. as we go through today as well as through friday, we're talking potentially flooding problems. three to five inches for areas just to the north of new orleans, and then for florida,

we're talking central florida, two to four inches of rainfall. of course, that has to go somewhere. it will hit the northeast on friday. speaking of the northeast, you're going to have a little weather problem here. it was windy and cold yesterday. once again, it is still going to be cool. wind gusts 30 to 40 miles per hour. what you're seeing in the pink and the red shading, that is actually a red flag warning, and that means no burning out there. this is going to be in place really until about 8:00 this evening. on a wider view, cold air still in place, courtesy of this ridge of high pressure. and temperatures are still going to run 10 to 15 degrees below average. here's a look at the numbers for wednesday. 44 for chicago. 46 for new york. that's the same for the yankees and the mets game. washington, d.c., 51. as we move through friday, look at that. some of that warm air trying to surge back in. we'll start to see some 60s working in for areas including illinois as well as into missouri, and then for new york with 51 degrees. it is going to be wild out there. we'll continue to track those storms in the south. the good news is, guys, rain

moving through. it looks like for the weekend, final four, i know some people are paying attention to that. looks like the weather is going to be spectacular for atlanta this weekend. >> fantastic. >> we'll be inside watching television, not outside. jennifer delgado, thanks. jay-z already part owner of basketball's brooklyn nets. now he's making another high profile play in the sports world. we'll have the details next. sorry. sore knee. blast of cold feels nice. why don't you use bengay zero degrees? it's the one you store in the freezer. same medicated pain reliever used by physical therapists. that's chilly! [ male announcer ] bengay zero degrees. freeze and move on.

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welcome back, everyone. 56 minutes after the hour and

trending online, yankees slugger robinson kay know, the all-star second baseman, has fired his agent scott boris and replaced him with jay-z, sort of. cano is the first big client for jay-z's rock nation sports, a new sports agency founded by mr. z. jay-z owns the brooklyn nets, but the nba says it has no problem with him representing athletes that are not professional basketball players. for now rock nation sports is concentrating on baseball players like cano, who could easily command close to $200 million after this season. that's when he becomes a free agent. he is due a giant payday. >> jay-z, a savvy businessman and on track for world domination. president obama, chris christie, north korea, and the walking dead. time for late night laughs. >> alaska is the place where they film "the walking dead." producers got the idea to film the walking dead here when they saw people coming out of a waffle house at 2:00 a.m.

jaw fell off. >> this isn't good. yesterday president obama shot baskets at the white house and only made 2 shots out of 22. even dick cheney was like, that guy needs to learn to shoot. my bad, buddy. >> the united states sent a navy destroyer towards north korea as kim jong-un threatens to strike america. even china stepped in. china warned kim jong-un. they told him flat out, hey, those missiles had better not hit any walmarts, or you are in trouble, buddy. >> today new jersey governor chris christie signed a new law that bans children under 17 from using tanning beds. then the kids told chris christie, fine, then stop blocking the sun. and i thought that was mean. rude little brat. come over here.

>> that was mean. >> "early start" continues right now. a college coach crossing the line. just shocking abuse of his own players caught on camera. the school knew about this a while ago. why wasn't he fired? ♪ he's the little boy that santa claus forgot ♪ the sad song of michael jackson's doctor, conrad murray singing the blues in a cnn exclusive, saying he's a scapegoat in the king of pop's death. pedal to the metal, a suspect in a stolen cab with cops in hot pursuit at speeds topping 100 miles an hour. almost perfect. poised to pull off one of baseball's rarest feats, watching the bid for history slip right through his legs. good morning. >> he was that close. >> so close. >> that happened 24 times? >> 24. welcome to "early start."

i'm christine romans. >> and i'm john berman. it is wednesday, april 3rd. it is 6:00 a.m. in the east. we're going to start with this shocking video that has so many retain basketball coach mike rice, after this video surfaced which shows him verbally and physically abusing players at practice. he's seen grabbing them, shoving them, kicking them. even throwing players at their feet and their head. he also uses gay slurs. now rice was fined, and suspended by the school last fall. but we didn't know exactly why until the tape first appeared yesterday on espn. it has since really gone viral. >> pamela brown is following developments for us. certainly this is the talker overnight. >> it sure is. so many people were shocked to see this video yesterday. rutgers university officials are facing some tough questions this morning, on why they didn't fire rice after learning of the allegations last summer, and then seeing the video several months ago. as pressure mounts for further action, many people including

some nba stars are sounding off about rice's homophobic rants and abuse toward his players. hurtling basketballs at players' legs. even their heads. [ bleep ] >> reporter: grabbing, pushing, kicking, and punching them. and screaming homophobic slurs. >> [ bleep ] you're a [ bleep ] [ bleep ] >> reporter: this video obtained by espn's "outside the lines" shows rutgers head basketball coach mike rice going off the handle and abusing his players during practices from 2010 through 2012, according to the sports network. the footage surfaced after eric murdock who was rice's director of player development until he was fired showed it to rutgers athletic department officials. in an interview >> seeing your coach physically putting his hands on players, physically kicking players, you

know, firing balls at players from point-blank range, the -- the verbal abuse, the belittling, yeah, i was in total shock that this guy wasn't fired. >> reporter: on espn tuesday, the school's athletic director was asked why he didn't fire rice. >> the moment that we became aware of the video in november, when it was presented to us by eric and his lawyers, we immediately commenced an independent investigation into the matter. we talked to everybody in the program. we evaluated the situation, and we suspended mike in a more significant way than coaches have been suspended in recent memory. >> reporter: now, as this video goes viral, many calling on him to reconsider and fire rice. even lebron james weighing in on twitter saying, if my son played for rutgers or a coach like that, he would have some real explaining to do, and i'm still going to whoop on him afterwards. come on.

esteemed basketball coaches lose their cool is nothing new. remember legendary coach bobby knight? he was known for his hot temper and throwing chairs. but it was this video showing him with his hands around a player's neck that led to his dismissal at indiana. >> i mean maybe i grabbed him by the shoulder, touched him by the back of 9 neck. i don't know. i don't remember everything that i've ever done in practice. >> reporter: now the question looms, will rice face the same fate as knight? and many are saying university officials who watched the video last year should also go. cnn's attempts for a comment from rice and the university were unsuccessful. of course it will be interesting to see what happens today. what kind of response we get from them. >> and the pressure is going to build. it was building overnight. it will build all day today. are there any indications that rutgers may reconsider? >> right now it appears that university officials are reconsidering the decision to only suspend rice. in fact burnetti appears to be

backpedalling in an interview he did on the radio yesterday. he said look the decision to suspend rice came from the fact that he was remorseful, he apologized, he acknowledged his wrongdoing. but at this point, you know, this video has gone viral. there's so much outrage from people, i think that the pressure is certainly mounting for more to be done here. >> clearly public relations problem for this program. >> oh, i think so. i think it will be a very interesting day at rutgers today. >> oh, yeah. >> this is not over. >> thanks, pamela brown. new developments this morning in the case of two murdered prosecutors in kaufman, texas. investigators are now looking at a former justice of the peace named eric williams, who was fired in a corruption probe, and prosecuted by both men who are now dead. cnn's george howell live with us this morning from kaufman. george, tell us about this person of interest development. >> well, whether a person of interest or not, still undetermined at this point. what we know, cnn spoke with his attorney and he says that

investigators met with his client at a local denny's to take hand swabs, swab samples, i should say, from his hand, to test for gun residue. at this point cnn does not know what the results of those swab samples revealed to investigators. but sturgi says that his client voluntarily cooperated because he, quote, has nothing to hide. but it's very important to put this into perspective. now this person may be one of many people that investigators are talking to. also, there are many theories out there. the theory about the possibility of the aryan brotherhood of texas being involved. the possibility of a drug cartel being involved. or was this an inside hit? we just don't know. because at this point, no suspect is in custody. but fair to say, christine, these investigators have a lot of different angles that they're looking through to get to the bottom of this case. >> and as this investigation unfolds you're seeing more security around officials there. you're seeing differences as we move forward here. >> absolutely. and just yesterday, it was quite apparent.

we saw investigators walking side by side with public officials, that's something we hadn't really seen in the past few days. but you can tell that they are really taking security seriously. in fact, we spoke with one district attorney in nearby anderson county and you get a sense of just how concerned he is to do his job in this environment. take a listen. >> i feel like mike was murdered for what he did, so it makes it kind of, you know, it's a little scary to people like me, not going to change the way i do business. i'm not going to walk in fear, i'm not going to not people i can prosecute. but you got to be careful. >> reporter: christine, the person that will be filling mike mclelland's position, brandi fernandez will be taking that spot as an interim d.a. for the next 21 days until the governor of the state, rick perry, appoints a new district attorney for this county. but again, even she will have round the clock security because, again, public officials

are taking these threats seriously. >> what's expected the next few days, george? >> right. we know thursday there will be a public memorial. the governor rick perry will also attend that public memorial in sunnyvale, texas. then on friday, the funeral and burial to follow in wortham texas. >> george howell in texas. thank you so much. tension building between north and south korea this morning. north korea making good on its threat to block south korean workers from entering or leaving a jointly run industrial complex. this moves comes a day after pyongyang announced it would restart a shuttered nuclear power plant. the north increasingly hostile behavior prompting harsh criticism, even threats from the west. >> i reiterate again, the united states will do what is necessary to defend ourselves, and defend our allies, korea, and japan. >> if we have solid evidence that north korea is going to take action, then i think we have the moral obligation and the absolute right to defend ourselves by taking -- i

wouldn't even consider that preemptive. to me that would be stopping an attack that's about to happen. >> this week the united states positioned two warships and a sea-based radar platform near the korean peninsula to monitor north korean military activity. >> take a look at this new video. a man in a stolen taxi taking police in south florida on a wild rush hour ride through two counties. the high speed chase started in miami where the driver lost control. look at that on the florida turnpike but somehow managed to keep on going after hitting well over 100 miles an hour, then a brief chase on foot, police finally caught the suspect. they say they found marijuana and other drugs on him. 33-year-old lazaro is facing multiple charges including grand theft auto and aggravated assault on a police officer. like something out of an episode of miami vice. i can't believe he was going that fast and made it through two counties. new this hour, nelson mandela on the mend. doctors in south africa said a short time ago that their former president is making steady improvements. mandela is 94, rushed to the

hospital last week with a lung infection. louisville's kevin ware back on campus this morning after suffering that horrifying compound fracture in his right leg during the nationally televised game on sunday. the 20-year-old sophomore broke his leg during sunday's cardinals victory over duke where he is expected to be off the court for about a year now. his team will next face wichita state in the final four. ware is hoping to join them for the trip but he needs clearance to travel from team doctors first. so, if you made the mistake of going to sleep last night, you almost missed something absolutely amazing. the texas rangers yu darvish retired the first 26 houston astros he faced. now if you're keeping score at home. that put him one out away. >> whoa. >> one out away from a perfect game. but 170 million dollar star from japan, he just seemed invincible last night. he had 14 strikeouts. needed just one more out for that perfect game, and up came

little-known marlin gonzalez career .234 hitter. watch. >> perfect game. gonzalez, base hit! >> oh! >> right through the legs, right up the middle. the bid for the perfect game, i think just the 24th of all time broken up there with one out to go in the ninth. they pulled yu darvish, brought in the relief pitcher. the good news for the rangers at least, they did go on to win 7-0. >> berman your love for baseball knows -- >> a perfect game in what was the second game for the rangers of the season. >> $107 million. that's a pile of money. >> it's why you can't go to sleep at thiet. if you go to sleep at night you miss things like this. >> all right. >> stay up and watch. so it may be the last thing you'd expect to hear in the middle of a jailhouse interview. >> yeah. >> we're talking about singing. singing. that conrad murray who will be singing. you'll get more from anderson cooper's sometimes bizarre exclusive interview with michael jackson's former doctor. stay with us.

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murray serving a four-year sentence for involuntary manslaughter, and this is a jailhouse telephone interview with anderson cooper. murray maintained his innocence, and delivered part of his message in song. it was strange, to say the least. cnn's shannon travis live in washington. shannon, tell us more about this interview. >> yeah, john, he's not only maintaining his innocence, he says it's time people know, quote, my story. that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. now, as you mention, dr. conrad murray giving jailhouse interviews to cnn, his first since being convicted of involuntary manslaughter in michael jackson's death in november 2011. obviously, the coroner ruled that jackson died from a lethal combination of sedatives and the anesthetic propofol. murray says though he administered those drugs to jackson, jackson had already been using propofol long before. that murray actually tried to wean him off of it. murray says his intentions were good. take a listen, john. >> but do you feel any guilt

over the death of michael jackson? >> i'm an innocent man. i am extremely sorry that my [ inaudible ] it's a tremendous loss for me. it's a burden i've been carrying for the longest while. and it's a burden i will carry for an indefinite period of time. i became a sounding board for michael. he regurgitated everything that was bad in his past and everything that was dark. and i have been the absorbent capacity for that. >> in that same refrain, john, dr. murray actually called himself a scapegoat for all of the things that michael jackson had endured over his life. john? >> there was a lot about this interview that was interesting, shannon, but there's one thing that a lot of people are talking about this morning and that's that really just bizarre moment when murray broke out into song. >> it was bizarre that the doctor treating the king of pop actually broke out into song

himself. he was using this knock by nat king cole to actually profess his story as we mentioned earlier. take a listen at actually how he delivered it. ♪ he's a little boy that sands forgot ♪ ♪ and goodness knows he did not want a lot ♪ ♪ -- for some crayons and a toy broken for a heart and he found santa hadn't come in the streets he envied all ♪ >> john, obviously all of this comes as murray is actually appealing his conviction. john? >> all right, shannon travis. our thanks to you. >> really -- >> makes you think. >> just odd. 16 minutes after the hour. let's get you up to date. the pressure is growing this morning on rutgers university to fire men's basketball coach mike rice. a stunning video shows rice shoving, grabbing, and throwing balls at players during practice and using expletives and gay slurs. rice was fined and suspended back in december for the quote,

inappropriate behavior. now the school is said to be reviewing its decision to keep him. an unsealed criminal complaint details an alleged plot to rig the upcoming new york city mayoral race. state senator malcolm smith now out on bond accused of trying to bribe his way onto the ballot. the complaint details payments of thousands of dollars in an effort to persuade republican leaders in new york to put smith on the republican ballot in november, even though he was a registered democrat. five other new york political figures from both sides of the aisle also charged. authorities in west virginia say 21-year-old mtv reality star shain gandee and two others died from accidental carbon monoxide poisoning. the star was found dead monday along with his uncle and a friend. they were inside a ford bronco on a dirt road in west virginia. mtv has suspended filming a second season of the show. and that truck was partially submerged in mud. a small plane turns a busy south florida highway into a

runway. an instructor and a student pilot were reportedly conducting a training exercise when they were forced to make an emergency landing on the median of u.s. 27 in south broward yesterday. both men walked away uninjured. the faa is investigating. this is the second small plane to make an emergency landing on u.s. 27 in just the last month. >> disney and pixar reeling in a sequel to "finding nemo." ellen degeneres will again be the voice of forgetful dory in the new film. waiting a long, long time for the sequel. it's scheduled for release in november 2015. >> just a day after their west side story duet made light of their rivalry. jimmy fallon may be one step closing to replacing jay leno as the host of "the tonight show." a source close to the deal tells the "hollywood reporter," it is on, insisting fallon and nbc have reached an agreement. leno's contract is good through september of next year. but hollywood reporter kim

masters who broke the story told cnn's piers morgan she doesn't think they will wait that long. >> well, i think they want to start him a little bit before then. i don't know if you're jay leno at this point, how long do you want the farewell to last? i think if you saw the video last night, it seemed to me at the very end jay leno was kind of hinting that he's accepting this. >> so reports also say the network is eyeing "saturday night live's" seth myers to replace fallon on late night. i don't officially get a vote here but were it up to me, seth meyers would be the choice. >> he's very funny. >> if you skipped out on the iphone 5, saying i'll wait for the next model, we've got the scoop on the next one, including when. always a big question with apple products. when. as your life and career change, fidelity is there for your personal economy, helping you readjust your retirement plan along the way. rethink how you're invested. and refocus as your career moves forward. wherever you are today,

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look at new jersey.

>> yes. >> jersey is on the left. what the rest of us are looking at is new york city on the right of the george washington bridge there. sorry, new jersey. it's been awfully good these days in new york city. the financial capital of the world. we are minding your business this morning. it could be yet another record day on wall street. stock futures are up. >> right. and any gains today would add to yesterday's record highs set by both the dow and the s&p 500. yesterday the big driver, insurance stocks, after the government said it would boost the amount it pays insurers for its medicare advantage program. insurance stocks moving higher yesterday. that was the big driver overall. okay, so here's what we're watching this morning. new data on the job market could affect trading and we have a jobs report on friday. so that's going to be really key to watch how any job market data today might help or hurt the market. the next iphone could be on the way. "the wall street journal" says apple will start producing a refreshed iphone sometime this quarter. that could mean a summer release. also a smaller, less expensive iphone could be launched this year after apple recently said

its profits were squeezed by the popularity of the cheaper, older model iphones, and some of the blogs reporting they're looking for a different kind of case for this cheaper version. interesting, right? jay-z launching a sports agency, and he already landed a pretty big fish. new york yankee robinson cano. jay-z, is that how we say his name? who will represent him under his new sports nation called roc nation sports could mean a big pay day since cano is expected to bring in nine figures. jay-z was named one of fortune's 50 business persons of the year last year. he owns an entertainment company, a music label, minority owner of the brooklyn nets basketball team, brand jay-z raiding high right now. >> robby cano maybe the best second baseman in baseball. he's going to make upwards of $200 million in his next contract. jay-z's company -- >> it's embarrassing i had to ask you how to pronounce his

name. >> what's the one thing we need to know about our money? >> people are buying vacation homes. sales race 10% last year because of that the national association of realtors says the supply of available second homes in places like florida, and arizona, is limited. vacation home sales up, and vacation home prices up. i don't know if it just matters to the 1% or not. but it certainly, certainly is another sign of a housing market that is stabilizing. >> i was going to say god bless all those people. >> i can't afford my home-home, let alone my home in a different home. that's another story altogether. >> 25 minutes after the hour right now. remember the rare look at a whole different side of the president? take a look. ♪ i am so in love with you >> there he is, president obama channeling al green. now, of course, the president will get a chance to learn from the original. we'll tell you why coming up. if you happen to be leaving the house right now, you can watch us any time on your desk

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this has been medifacts for polygrip® for partials. out of bounds, and now maybe out of a job. a college hoops coach called out for nasty behavior on the court. all of it caught on camera. raw emotion in the jodi arias courtroom. what the judge in the murder trial did to reduce one juror to

tears. his life on the run now over. new this morning, the elusive fugitive known as the mountain man, tracked down, and caught. >> wow. seven years in the woods. >> seven years on the run. welcome back to "early start," everyone, i'm john berman. >> i'm christine romans in for zoraida sambolin. it's 30 minutes past the hour. >> this morning so many people are questioning why rutgers university let basketball coach mike rice keep his job. after that video surfaced that shows him physically and verbally abusing players during practice, even hurling gay slurs. rice was fined and suspended but he was not fired. now, his video has gone viral. fueling coast-to-coast outrage. >> cnn's pamela brown following all the developments for us. this university under a lot of pressure this morning to explain, you know, to explain why it had this video, and why it didn't fire this coach. >> right. officials facing some tough questions, you're right, christine. they learned of the alleges last summer and then watched the

video several months ago. now anger is mounting over why the athletic director didn't fire rice. let's take a look again at the shocking video. you can see rice hurling basketballs at players' legs and even their heads, grabbing, pushing, kicking and punching them. and screaming homophobic slurs. this footage surfaced after eric murdock, rice's director of player development until he was fired, showed it to rutgers athletic department officials. murdoch says rice's behavior caused several players to leave. >> and to see your physically putting his hands on players. physically kicking players. firing balls at players from point-blank range. the verbal abuse, the belittling, yeah, i was in total shock that this guy wasn't fired. immediately on the spot.

>> instead rice was suspended for three games and fined after the video surfaced. at the time, university officials said the move was in response to, quote, inappropriate behavior by rice. but after the video was released to the public yesterday, people are saying the university downplayed rice's suspension last december. now they're facing a grilling over why he didn't take more action. here's what he said on espn yesterday. >> the moment that we became aware of the video in november, when it was presented to us by eric and his lawyers we immediately commenced an independent investigation into the matter. we talked to everybody in the program. we evaluated the situation, and we suspended mike in a more significant way than coaches have been suspended in recent memory. >> and cnn's attempts to reach out to rice, prenetti and the university were unsuccessful. but it will be interesting to see what happens if this decision to suspend rice will be reconsidered. it appears that that could happen over the fury since this video was released yesterday. >> it's not just one bad moment.

>> no. >> for this coach. it's several -- is it several practices? >> it was 30 minutes of video that was actually showed to university officials back in december. of course we're just seeing a part of that. what i think is interesting here, actually, you make a good point christine, we're hearing from nba superstars lebron james, you know, ray allen, who are saying, look, this is not commonplace. this is not the way it should be. and they're sounding off on twitter. >> eric murdock, who we believe was the man and his attorney who made this video public who was involved with rutgers basketball, eric murdock played in the nba for nine years. eric murdock was a college basketball star before that. eric murdock's been around basketball for a long time and if he was shocked by what's going on in that practice it's really worth, you know, taking a look at it very, very hard. so rutgers has been sitting on this in a way since november. >> and a lot of people are saying that, you know, the heat shouldn't just be on rice. it should be also be on pernetti and the other university officials who saw this video and didn't take more action. >> the first thing i thought when i was hearing some of the

homophobic slurs in this is tyler clement ty went to rutgers. this is a university that had massive soul searching about how you treat people, about how words matter and words can hurt and you have a leader at the university saying things like this. >> a lot of people are saying it's hypocritical of the university. >> pamela brown, thanks to you. >> new developments this morning in the murder of two district attorney's in kauffman, texas. police are looking at a former justice of the peace who was fired for corruption and prosecuted by the two dead men. eric williams says police met with him at a local restaurant and swabbed his hands for signs of gun residue but williams insists he doesn't even own a gun and police are not officially calling him a suspect. meantime new developments in another deadly shooting involving a prosecutor in colorado. police in the small town of hot sulfur springs, colorado, say a -- cnn's jim spellman live in

denver for us this morning. what's the latest? >> the man shot and killed, josh swa stevens in his early 30s. he only moved to hot sulphur springs about a week ago looking for work. monday night just before midnight, apparently, he showed up at the door of this deputy district attorney, and her sheriff deputy husband, showed up there with some sort of altercation at their door, not exactly clear what happened. and then one of these two people, either the deputy d.a. or her husband, shot and killed this man. he was shot in the head. and in the torso. unclear exactly what kind of altercation there was. i can tell you, though, i know this town fairly well. it would definitely be unusual for you to have somebody coming to your door at midnight. and we know that prosecutors, law enforcement officials across the state have been at a heightened state of awareness, and alert, taking extra precaution given the events of the prison head here being killed, and the district attorney in texas. we hope to find out more about

this as the investigation goes on today, christine. >> jim, what do we know about the suspect? any connection to the signs? any explanation for why this happened? >> no connection at all to -- to the deputy d.a. or her deputy husband. and barely any connection to the town. we know he moved here about a week ago from michigan. apparently looking for work. and he was staying with friends. we did a quick background search. we found that he had a conviction back in 2007 for fleeing from the police but that was it. that was all we could find. very mysterious what he was doing at their house at that night and exactly what led to this altercation, christine. >> jim spellman for us in colorado. thanks, jim. a key official doing some work for the nra now says he can get on board with an expansion for background checks for gun sales up to a point anyway. asa hutchinson is a former congressman heading up the nra's national school shield task force. he says the day will come when teachers are routinely armed in our schools.

and while its stance on background checks appears to be softening it comes with a giant asterisk. >> i'm open to expanding background checks. you can do it within a way that does not infringe upon an individual and make it hard for an individual to transfer to -- to a friend or a neighbor, somebody that here in montana and have a casual sale we don't want to infringe upon those rights, either. >> so hutchinson's loophole there for so-called casual gun sales amounts to a rejection of democratic senator chuck schumer's bill that would require universal background checks for all gun sales. >> a really frightening scene on a busy brazilian highway. a passenger bus plunging 30 feet from a viaduct in rio de janeiro plunging onto its roof. at least seven people killed, six others injured. rush hour traffic at a standstill yesterday as the victims were removed from that bus. a witness told a brazilian tv station the driver had a dispute with a passenger right before the crash. day 40. 40 of the jodi arias murder

trial, and the drama it just keeps on coming. a juror has been thrown off the case, leaving the courthouse in tears. and the judge denying a defense request for a mistrial. areas' defense had argued the dismissed juror, a female in their 30s, jeopardized the case by gossiping and exhibiting bias in front of other jurors. the mountain man is behind bars this morning. fugitive troy james knapp on the run for seven years, finally tracked down by law enforcement teams in a remote area of utah. authorities say knapp fired shots at a helicopter that was tracking him, finally gave himself up after he was surrounded. the suspect is a survivalist. he's accused of breaking into dozens of cabins in southern and central utah over the last seven years. he faces 18 criminal charges in three utah counties. former south carolina governor mark sanford will get the chance to win back his old congressional seat as his somewhat improbable return to politics continues. he beat city council man kurtis bostic last night in a

republican runoff. he will go up against democrat elizabeth colbert busch in a may 7th special election. she is the sister of comedian stephen colbert. here's what sanford told supporters last night. >> incredibly humbled, incredibly gratified, incredibly thankful for this night, for what it means at many different levels, and i just want to thank every one of you for your part in making it possible. thank you very much. >> sanford's career took something of a nose dive after details of an affair were revealed in 2009. last night a rare public appearance by the woman he had that affair with, she is now his fiancee right by sanford's side at the victory rally. i covered this on and off for a number of years now. i've never actually seen her and mark sanford together. >> it was during much of the race his sons were often there. but last night you saw the fiancee. the infamous -- after the infamous trip on the appalachian trail. what a comeback. all right the president and

first lady are getting ready to welcome one of their favorite singers to the white house. part of a star-studded concert next week, a tribute to memphis soul music. ♪ justin timberlake will be there along with cyndi lauper. they'll be joined by sam moore. sam and dave and guitarist steve cropper and the legendary al green. he's seen here performing for a capital records concert. wow that voice. president obama, i don't know, he could be under some pressure, john, to step up on the stage. >> oh, i think he has to. >> he might be al green's number one fan. ♪ i so in love with you >> concert will be recorded and broadcast later this month on pbs. >> i think the president is going to have to sing. >> you think so? it's one thing to sing al green when he's not there, it's another to do it right next to him. >> he's going to have to step

up. show some guts and pipe at the same time. all right 40 minutes after the hour right now. you may not know it, christine and i are right now controlling your mind through the television set. now don't laugh. a disturbing number of people actually believe this is true. >> all right. >> yeah, i'm, i'm, i'm intrigued. skinny in the sky. the airline where losing a few pounds could save you a buck or pounds could save you a buck or two. wwatch out for myself. with so much noise about health care... i tuned it all out. with unitedhealthcare, i get information that matters... my individual health profile. not random statistics. they even reward me for addressing my health risks. so i'm doing fine... but she's still going to give me a heart attack. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for more than 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. what's the "new" in the new new york?. a new property tax cap... and the lowest middle class income tax rate in 60 years...

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all right. brooke baldwin with us now with a look at what's happening on "starting point." >> at the top of the hour, a coach caught on video. hurling basketballs. have you seen this? at some of his college players,

screaming profanities. slurs at them. even shoving, kicking them at points in the video. one of many questions we're asking is it time for rutgers head coach mike rice to go? got some great guests on this this morning. we have former nba basketball player john amaechi and cnn investigator reporter john barr who's been following the story very, very closely. they'll be up this morning. and then michael jackson's doctor, who was convicted of manslaughter, in the king of pop's death, is speaking, from his prison cell, with anderson cooper. it is a bizarre interview. there is singing involved. you have to hear this. we will talk to victims rights attorney gloria allred, get her reaction to him singing the blues. and then you know him as one half of espn's tough talking mike and mike in the morning. mike greenberg explains to us why he's written his new fiction novel about relationships between women. so it's pretty inspirational. a sports dude writing the first person perspective story about

three women. but the whole thing, all the proceeds, go to fighting cancer. don't miss the interview. >> so unlikely. >> and you were telling me yesterday the back story about what inspired him -- >> it's so inspiring. >> you got to see that. >> thanks, brooke. cold and windy start to the northeast for more on that we get to jennifer delgado live in the cnn weather center. good morning, jennifer. i'm going to smile and say good morning even though i don't always love the news you're bringing us. >> i know you don't. but you're going to have sunshine. >> i'll take it. >> it is cold outside. a little bit warmer than it was yesterday. good for you, new york, you are above freezing. but still some temperatures in the 20s from buffalo, cleveland, all the way to chicago. so what is going to happen today with the numbers? well, we are going to see our high temperatures climbing a bit more but they're still running 10 to 15 degrees below average. 51 for a high in washington, d.c. 46 in new york. 44 in chicago. we move it ahead to friday, just so you know i'm telling you the truth, we are going to see some of that warmer air warming up, temperatures we're expecting in the 60s for some parts,

including louisville, 63 degrees, 65 in st. louis. new york 51. saturday you're going to see sunshine out there for new york, but rain comes to you on friday. so, the other part of what's happening in the northeast, very windy conditions out there. wind gusts today, 30 to 40 miles per hour. and that means you have a red flag warning in place from northern virginia all the way up towards connecticut. that is very likely to last until 8:00 tonight. no burning out there. now, rain, showers and thunderstorms popping up all along the south. we're going to continue to see this today, tomorrow, and through friday. and you can see a lot of lightning out there. they've been hammered from the eastern parts of texas as well as into louisiana. not expecting any severe weather today. still some of those storms could become strong. they're going to drop a tremendous amount of rainfall. possibility of some flooding woes. 3 to 5 inches for louisiana and for central florida, 2 to 4 inches. from fire to flooding, big weather headlines today. back over to you guys. >> thanks, jennifer.

we could be seeing the start of a new trend in air travel. the more you weigh, the more you pay. samoa air, now the world's first airline to charge passengers based on weight. the company's ceo says the fare structure makes sense, because airplanes run by weight, not by seats. so, you know, if you've got a little kid maybe they're going to pay a little bit less than a big grown-up. >> a new survey reveals some surprising information about just how many conspiracy theorists there are among us in the variety of beliefs they hold to be true. 15% of those surveyed believe secret mind-controlling technology is added to television broadcasts by the government to keep the masses in check. 14% of you believe the cia was instrumental in dealing crack cocaine to america's inner cities back in the 1980s. 7% believe we never landed on the moon. and finally, 13% of registered american voters surveyed think president obama is the antichrist. another 13% are not sure. if he's the antichrist.

>> all right. i always love those. they also -- when you talk about who believes in sasquatch and that kind of stuff. baseball fans all over the country threw their arms up at the same time when this happened. the moment yu darvish lost a perfect game with two outs in the ninth. more ahead if you missed it. oh, he's a fighter alright. since aflac is helping with his expenses while he can't work, he can focus on his recovery. he doesn't have to worry so much about his mortgage, groceries, or even gas bills. kick! kick...

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kevin ware, the louisville player who suffered that gruesome leg injury during the ncaa tournament games over the weekend, he's now back with his teammates. now he's hoping to ride the bench, cheering on his team

during the final four this saturday. >> andy schultz is here with today's bleacher report. >> good morning, guys. ware's louisville cardinals were already the overall favorites to win the tournament. now they have even more to play for as they try to win the title for their injured teammate. ware was released from the hospital yesterday after going through successful surgery to repair the compound fracture in his leg. and he's expected to be out of basketball for an entire year. but that did not stop him from rejoining his teammates as soon as possible. ware's already back on campus with the cardinals. and head coach rick pitino said he expects ware to travel with the team to atlanta for the final four. year two for you in the lone star state got off to a near perfect start. the rangers ace was dealing against the astros retiring the first 26 batters he faced. yu was just one out away from a perfect game in the ninth. but astros nine-hole hitter marwin gonzalez shoots this ball right through yu's legs. that single ends the perfect game bid for yu and the night.

the heartbreaker for the rangers. they still win the game 7-0 over the astros. shaq was back in l.a. last night to have his number 34 jersey retired by the lakers. and as these ceremonies usually go, he was secelebrated with a video tribute. the fans went crazy as shaq delivered old famous one liners like can you dig it. they also showed their love for their former head coach phil jackson. >> coach, i have a confession to make, you gave me a lot of weirdo books to read. i like to thank my good friend cliff notes for helping me read those books. >> those we want phil chants had to be offered for current laker head coach. when asked about the chants he said he's only won 58 rings, why wouldn't they. are you tired of having to drive around the pesky water hazards while playing golf? bubba watson has a solution for

you. a whoever craft. this is not an april fools' joke. it can go anywhere on a golf course leavingrively no trace behind. you see everything, the bubba craft can do head over to bleacherreport.com. guys, i don't play golf very often but if i got to drive around a whoever craft every time i went i'm pretty sure i'd go just about every weekend. >> i'd be there every day. that's the coolest thing i've ever seen. >> that's awesome. >> thanks, andy. we're going to hear from kevin ware later today. did you know that? ware is going to, and his mother, will speak to rachel nichols this afternoon in louisville. look forward to that. >> "starting point" is just moments away. we're back after the break. rs ad she can't always move the way she wants. now you can. with stayfree ultra thins. flexible layers move with your body while thermocontrol wicks moisture away. keep moving. stayfree.

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i'm christine romans. "starting point" with john and brooke baldwin starts right now. good morning, everyone, i'm john berman. >> good morning, i'm brooke baldwin. big big news day this morning beginning with some video here. our "starting point" shoving, slurs, basketballs hurled at these players' heads. look at this. this morning at rutgers university, the head coach mike rice's behavior, all of it caught on camera. >> [ bleep ] [ bleep ] [ bleep ] >> this morning, new details on the tape and the coach's future. >> unbelievable. and new this morning, police look into a possible suspect in the death of a texas district attorney and his wife, actually calling it a person of interest. how a local official might be connected. >> also, the doctor convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of michael jackson is not only speaking from prison, he's singing.